Nightlight
by snappleapple518
Summary: Dash and Paulina seem so perfect... but what is it that they're hiding behind that perfect skin and hair? This is my first DP fic, so be nice. Read and Review please!


_Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom, and honestly I can't say I wish I did. I don't really know that much about she show, but I've watched ten episodes or so and I think this song really works with the characters of Paulina and Dash. Thanks for reading!_

**Nightlight**

Paulina lay in bed shivering. It was so dark outside… so cold. She shivered again.

_Turn off the light…_

_Turn off the light, you dork! _, her mind shouted.

But she couldn't do it.

_She fooled all of her friends into thinking she's so strong_

_But she still sleeps with the light on_

_I wonder how mother is doing…_

Paulina shook the thoughts out of her head. She loved her mother, but she didn't think that her life was supposed to be like this. A mother with cancer, a drunken father, the pressure to be perfect all the time. She hadn't asked for it and she wasn't going to think about it any more than she had to. She plastered a smile on her face, even though there was no one in the room to see it.

_It's always good to practice…then it's easier to act happy when it has be a "spur of the moment" thing._

_And she acts like it's all right on, as she smiles again_

_And her mother lies there sick with cancer_

Her phone was ringing. She picked it up and almost sighed when she heard that it was Dash. Dash… he was so ignorant. He didn't have any idea what it was like to have a life like hers. A life that wasn't perfect, like he was, with his blonde hair and perfect body… what she would do for a perfect life. He didn't know anything about what she was going through…

_But then again… she'd never tried to tell him, had she?_

"Hey, Paulina! How's it going?" he asked.

"Great!" she giggled, and plastered on the smile, even though she was only talking on the phone. A smile helped keep her in character. "Even better now that I'm talking to you!" she giggled again, and almost barfed. She wished that someday she'd just be able to break down and leave all this behind.

Now felt like the perfect time.

_And her friends don't understand her_

_She's a question without answers_

_Who feels like falling apart._

But she controlled herself. After all this time it wasn't worth revealing her cover over a moment of emotional strife.

She talked to Dash for a few more minutes, but it didn't seem like he had anything to say, and so she told him that she was tired and she needed to go to sleep.

"I love you, Paulina." He told her. She almost rolled her eyes, but she knew that would make her get out of character.

_Love… he doesn't know what love is._

_She knows, she's so much more than worthless_

_She needs to find a purpose,_

_She wonders what she did to deserve this_

Dash sighed as he hung up the phone. If she really knew what he was like she wouldn't like him anymore…

If she knew he was as smart as he really was… if she knew he was practically nerd smart… like that Tucker Foley guy. Well… she wouldn't like him anymore. He didn't think smart was her type of guy.

So he was a football jock. A jock in the game he hated more than anything else. Unfortunately he happened to be really good at it too. It was an easy thing to lie about.

_And he tells everyone a story,_

_Cause he thinks his life is boring_

_And he fights so you won't ignore him,_

_Cause that's his biggest fear_

A single tear dropped from eyes, and just when he thought it was over more and more began to fall and hit the sheets on his bed. He wiped them away. And buried his head in his pillow.

He wanted to call Paulina again. He acted like he didn't love her, but really he did. He didn't think that a jock football player would tell his girlfriend he loved her all the time, and so he only did it every once in a while, particularly at weak moments. If he could say it as much as he wanted to, there wouldn't be any time left in the day.

Dash turned up his stereo, which had a CD with a bunch of screamo music on it.

Dash hated screamo. He liked classical music. It made him feel such at ease. But football jocks don't play classical music, do they?

And as the screamo music played he began to scream too, but not along with the lyrics of the song. Instead he screamed "I love you, I love you, I love you!"

_And he cries, but you'll rarely see him do it_

_And he loves but he's scared to use it_

_So he hides behind the music_

_Cause he likes it that way_

He fell asleep this way but in his sleep he kept whispering, "I love you, I love you, I love you…"

That night he had a dream that he would turn into a big mathematician and get rich off of it. And he felt a sickening feeling in his stomach as he remembered that that would never happen seeing as his math grades were horrible. But only because he made himself fail. Dash actually knew the answers to every single problem.

Every problem except his own…

_And he knows, he's so much more than worthless_

_He needs to find the surface_

_Cause he's starting to get nervous_

The next morning when Dash met up with Paulina by the entrance to the school he once again, felt weak and said the words again.

"I love you, Paulina." He told her, sounding incredibly sincere even to his own ears. She looked up and he saw something change in her eyes. She sighed.

"I love you too, Dash." She said, linking her arm through his.

The walked into the school, neither knowing that the other was telling the truth.

---

_Okay, so what did you guys think of that? I thought it was okay, but I want to know what you guys thought of it, because that was my first DP fic, I don't know that much about the show, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't that great. So, you know the drill… read and review!_

_Thanks for reading,_

_Snappleapple518_


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